Acquired Taste
by Moonraven
Summary: Trowa is on a date. Duo and Quatre just wanted to take a look at said date... Trowa just doesn't know it.


**Author's notes and warnings:** Nothing much...just a little 3x4 for Hex… because she demands it. :grins: Fluffy stuff. Read at your own risk...

Thank you Hitari-chan for the beta! If there are still mistakes...it's entirely my fault. I could never leave well enough alone.

Also posted on my LJ.

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**Acquired Taste**

By Moonraven

* * *

"I don't know, Duo. We should have called first." Quatre looked around the circus grounds worriedly. "What if they're busy?"

"I tried," Duo patiently said for the tenth time. "That solar storm nearly fried all our circuits. We're lucky the shield held for so long."

Quatre frowned. "I'm sure I had checked the forecast; there wasn't supposed to be any solar flares."

Duo waved that away dismissively. "They'll never nail it 100, Quat. Quit worrying about it, will ya. Here we are."

They stopped in front of the trailer Trowa shared with Catherine, and Duo looked at Quatre expectantly.

Quatre stared at the door uncertainly. "What if he's busy?'

Duo snorted. "Doing what? Feeding the lions? It's eight in the evening. They already ate."

Quatre turned and glared at his friend. "Trowa does more than feeds the lions, you know."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Well…"

"Knock on the damn door."

Quatre sighed and tapped the door politely a couple of times. "They are not home, I knew we should have called."

"You aren't even done knocking! And for the eleventh time; I TRIED CALL--"

The door opened in mid-yell and Duo choked back the rest of the sentence awkwardly. Quatre glared at him again before turning to the stunned Catherine with an apologetic smile.

"Good evening, Catherine. I'm sorry to come unannounced. I hope we didn't interrupt anything?"

"Quatre! Duo!" Catherine greeted them with a warm smile. "No, not at all. Please come in." She stepped to the side and Duo bounded cheerfully in, followed by a more subdued Quatre.

"Yo, Tro! You home?" Duo snickered at his own greeting and Quatre poked him surreptitiously in the back.

"I'm sorry, guys. Trowa went out. He should be back in a couple of hours though. You will wait, won't you? He'd be so disappointed if he knew."

"Aw man!" Duo pouted. "So… where did he go?"

"Well…" Catherine started to say but paused momentarily, thinking hard.

"That's alright, Catherine," Quatre said reassuringly. "We'll go into town for a bit. We'll be back later if that's alright."

"Of course." Catherine gave him a genuine smile. "You're both welcome anytime…. but…" Catherine trailed off, biting her lips.

"But?" Duo prompted.

"Well…" Catherine didn't look hesitant any longer, but actually eager. "Since you're going to town, Trowa is having dinner at…" she trailed off, frowning. "What is that restaurant's name?" She turned and shuffled through some papers on the kitchen counter and then crowed triumphantly. She turned back to them with a business card in hand and gave that to Quatre. "He's there. I'm sure he wouldn't mind you joining them."

Quatre blinked. "Them?"

Catherine nodded happily. "In fact, I think it's a great idea. He wouldn't bring his date home to meet me. Maybe you guys can check the guy out for me? You know… make sure he's going to be good to Trowa?"

Quatre blinked again. "Date?"

Duo added, "Guy?"

Catherine nodded, looking slightly worried. "You did know Trowa is gay?"

"No, but we had hoped." Duo beamed at her and nudged Quatre in the ribs. "I told you."

Quatre frowned and started to hand Catherine back the card. "We can't possibly--"

"Of course we can." Duo snatched the card from Quatre and waved to Catherine. "We'll give you the full report when we return." Then he dragged Quatre out by the arm.

"DUO!" Quatre protested while being hauled to their car.

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me you're NOT curious."

"I'm not curious."

"Jealous then?"

"Definitely not!"

Duo stopped and turned to face him, his face suddenly serious. "Hurt?"

Quatre couldn't answer him, his chest felt tight and the lump in his throat that had appeared when Catherine mentioned 'date' had grown exponentially. Quatre felt like he was being suffocated.

"A little," he finally admitted in a small voice.

Duo gave him a small smile. "Let's check out the competition, shall we?"

"Duo, we can't do that!" Quatre protested but found himself climbing into the car anyway. Maybe he WAS just a tiny bit curious.

"Look," Duo said as he started the car. "I was right when I told you Tro was gay, wasn't I?" Duo was using his 'reasonable' tone. Quatre felt a lecture coming.

"Yes."

"So… don't you think I might be right too, when I told you he likes you?"

"He's on a date." Quatre pouted. "He apparently likes someone else."

"That's because he doesn't know how you feel."

"**_I'm_** not dating anyone." Quatre said in a small voice, looking out the window.

Duo sighed. "C'mon. We'll peek from the bushes, and then we're out of there, okay? Just a peek. We did promise Catherine…"

"YOU promised Catherine."

"Heh, heh, technicality." Duo turned and winked at him.

Quatre sighed and shook his head. Well, maybe just a little peek. He wondered what kind of guy Trowa would be attracted to. Would he be tall and quiet like the brunet? Would he be kind and generous? Would he be good looking?

Quatre felt his chest tighten a bit more as he thought about Trowa and his date. He rubbed at his chest absently and couldn't help feeling a little guilty that he was hoping Trowa was having a horrible time.

When they reached the restaurant, he was surprised to fine that it was Mexican. When Catherine handed him the card, he hadn't even looked at it.

Quatre loved Mexican food.

"Come on, Quat." Duo took him by the elbow and ushered him to the front door.

"No!" Quatre gasped. "THAT is NOT peeking!"

"I'm hungry." Duo protested. "And you love Mexican."

A young man passing them turned at Duo's comment and gave Quatre an appraising look.

"Food!" Quatre added hastily, flushing all the way to the roots of his hair. "Duo!"

"That's what I said." Then he turned to the hostess wearing a colorful blouse and a large fluffy skirt. "Table for two, please. Somewhere in the corner."

As they started to their table, Duo tugged urgently on Quatre's arm. "There he is!" He said in a hushed tone.

Quatre followed Duo's gaze and found Trowa sitting at a small table for two by one of the windows. He was looking outside and Quatre was very grateful that the window was facing the street and not the parking lot.

Trowa was also alone. A tiny little bubble of hope started to gurgle somewhere in Quatre's chest. He swallowed the irrationally happy feeling down quickly. Maybe Trowa was waiting for the guy… or maybe the guy stood Trowa up.

Good!

No! That's bad! Poor Trowa!

"Where's his date?" Quatre looked around the dining room, not sure what he was expecting to find.

"The john?" Duo suggested.

"Excuse me," the hostess said hesitantly. "Would you like to join your friend?" She looked from Duo and Quatre to Trowa, who was still very much alone.

"No!" - "Yes!" Duo and Quatre managed to say at the same time… rather loudly.

They both clamped a hand to their mouths and looked fearfully towards the brunet.

Trowa had turned and was staring right at them.

Oh, no… Quatre groaned and felt his face flushing again, million curses on his fair skin!

Duo recovered quickly, the devil that he was, and waved to Trowa cheerily. "Hiya, Tro!"

Trowa looked confused for a moment, his eyes traveling to Quatre. He took in the embarrassed expression and the hot flush on the blond's face and raised his brows questioningly as he waved them over.

"I'll find you a larger table," the hostess told them.

But Duo shook his head. "No. That's okay. I'm not staying."

_**I'm?**_

"You mean **_we_** are not staying."

But Duo was dragging him towards Trowa and didn't answer him.

When they got to the table, Trowa was already standing and looking around for someone. Quatre's heart sank.

"Trowa. How the hell are you?"

"Good. When did you get to L3?"

"Just got in. We went to the circus and Cathy told us you were here. We came right over; Quat was dying to see you!"

"Duo!" Quatre's eyes widen in shock. He had been thinking of an explanation for their being there and Duo was… Duo was shooting off his mouth as usual!

Trowa looked at Quatre, smiling gently. "I'm happy to see you too, Quatre," Trowa said softly, his eyes glinting with something that made Quatre's knees shake.

But then Trowa started looking around again.

Quatre closed his eyes and tried to control the shaking that was now, entirely different. He took a deep breath and turned to Duo.

"We really should leave Trowa and his… guest, Duo." Quatre turned back to Trowa. "It's really nice to see you again, Trowa but we really shouldn't intrude…" Quatre trailed off when Trowa looked confused.

"What guest?"

"Uh…" Quatre looked at the place setting opposite Trowa's on the table and found that it hasn't been touched. That, in itself didn't mean anything… but combined with everything else that had happened…

He looked over at Duo in confusion. Duo was grinning at him.

Quatre narrowed his eyes. "Duo?"

"Like I said; I'm not staying. Enjoy your date guys!" And then he left.

Quatre stood staring at the place where Duo had been, his mouth hung open and his mind completely a jumble mess of oh, so many things, many of them involved slow and painful death for one braided young man.

"Quatre?"

Quatre swallowed and turned back to Trowa, a suspicion slowly forming in his mind.

"You're not in on this, are you?"

Trowa shook his head and motioned for Quatre to sit down. The blond did so hesitantly, his mind still trying to grasp his best friend's treachery.

"I just ordered. Would you like a menu? The server seemed to have disappeared." Trowa looked around again, trying to get eye contact with the waitress.

Quatre breathed a sigh of relief. Trowa had been looking for the server, not his date. Speaking of which…

"Cathy said you were on a date." Quatre blurted out suddenly.

Trowa shook his head, his eyes never leaving Quatre's flushed face.

"She said… you were dating a… man." Quatre insisted.

Trowa shook his head again.

Quatre's stomach tightened even more. He looked down quickly at his hands; they were apparently trying to strangle a fork. He put that down hastily and stuck his hands under the table.

"Quatre, I'm not dating anyone," Trowa said softly.

Quatre nodded, not trusting his voice.

"But if I were dating… would it matter if it was a man?"

Quatre looked up cautiously. Trowa's tone suggested something… could he dare hope…?

Trowa was looking at him expectantly, as if his life depended on what Quatre would say.

Quatre shook his head.

Trowa smiled.

"Then… what are you doing here?"

"I'm having dinner."

"Alone?"

"Not anymore."

"But… You don't like Mexican food."

"It's an acquired taste," Trowa said, suddenly serious. "Some of the spices are very exotic… rich and strong… I wasn't used to it. It… scared me a little."

"And now?" Was his heart pounding as loud as he thought it was?

Trowa studied him silently for a few seconds, and then he laid his hands on the table, palms facing up. "Now I can't live without it."

As he stared at the offered hands, Quatre knew they weren't talking about food anymore. Slowly, he placed his hands in Trowa's, his eyes drifting up to meet the brunet's.

"The novelty might wear off… the spices could be overwhelming if you have it everyday."

"Never."

Quatre saw the truth in Trowa's eyes and couldn't help the luminous smile that broke across his face.

Trowa took in a sharp breath, his expression filled with awe.

"I'm sorry I took so long, Quatre."

Quatre shook his head. "That's alright, Trowa. I'm not sure I was ready for anything more than friendship anyway…"

"And now?" Trowa echoed his earlier question.

Quatre smiled and leaned over the table, his eyes filled with promise.

"Now I'm ready for anything."

* * *

"What do you think they're doing?" Duo asked Catherine as they sipped their coffee.

"I don't want to think about it."

"How did you get him to go there anyway?"

"I told him Quatre would want to go there when he visits and that Trowa should go see if Quatre would like it."

"And he fell for it?"

Cathy shrugged. "He was there, wasn't he?"

"Yeah." Duo took another sip. "The things he would do for Quatre."

"Exactly! And I know from what you've told me that Quatre is the same way."

Duo rolled his eyes. "You've heard but you have NOT lived it. Everywhere we go, everything we do, everytime we talked, it's Trowa this and Trowa that and 'I wonder what Trowa is doing?' or 'would Trowa like that?'" Duo snorted. "Damn, listening to him, half the time I though I was in love with Trowa."

Cathy laughed, holding up her coffee cup. "I'm so glad you and I talked or they would still be moping, and driving us crazy."

Duo raised his and they toasted the job well done.

After a while Duo asked, "You think they'll be mad?"

"They're too happy to be mad."

"They better be. We went to a lot of trouble."

Cathy nodded her agreement. "So… who's next?"

Duo turned to her, his eyes twinkling. "Wufei… and Relena."

Cathy squealed. "No way!"

"Yes, way! You should have seen them last month!"

"Do tell…"

**- end -**


End file.
